TAZ ushers in rebirth of professional wrestling in Hutchinson

Dan Adams remembers the heyday of professional wrestling in Hutchinson: the cheers, the standing-room-only crowds.

But it's been a generation since he and regional favorites like "Bulldog" Bob Brown grappled in the squared circle in front of a local audience.

What happens when he brings his Total Action Zone Wrestling team to town this weekend – the first exhibition here in about 20 years – is anyone's guess. But Adams is looking to restore the magic.

"The fans, they were hungry for wrestling at the time. I believe Hutch is a wrestling town because there are wrestling fans here," said Adams, a wrestler and promoter from Great Bend who participated in the last four shows at then-Convention Hall. "We're just looking to make an impact in Hutch. We don't want to give them a good show. We want to give them a heck of an experience they'll never forget."

Since creating TAZ Wrestling about a year and a half ago, Adams, who competes under the persona "Wrestling Machine Danimal," has partnered with Mike Klaers, owner of The Rusty Needle Sports Bar and Lounge, and Signature Sound Entertainment to put on shows around the Midwest. Now, in addition to luring independent music artists to the area, the Hutchinson-based promotion company – made up of many longtime wrestling enthusiasts – will help grow the already burgeoning indy wrestling scene.

"I've been a fan my whole life," said Adam Pina, who was in attendance at the last matches in Hutchinson, hosted by Bad Boys of Wrestling. "Now my kids, they get to be there and see the same thing that I saw."

It won't be completely like before, however. While there's still a desire to wrestle inside Memorial Hall at some point in the future, TAZ will compete out of the new Sand Hill Event Center. Exhibitions are planned every month through the end of the year, culminating in a big December show that Pina says will "be our WrestleMania."

A 30-year veteran of the business, Adams cut his teeth in the ring at the age of 18, latching on with Universal Championship Wrestling out of Wichita and trained by a relative of Dusty Rhodes. He said when he first told people he was going to grow up to be a professional wrestler – sealing the decree in a time capsule – he was laughed at, but that only served to make him work harder.

His long career has included several high points, and he can rattle off a list of connections that reads like a who's who of wrestling greats from the past few decades: He's trained with Buff Bagwell; once tag teamed with Rick Steiner; went on tour with Randy Orton's father, Bob Orton Jr.; and even faced off against the Junkyard Dog.

On the other end of the ladder is Kingman native Colton Gartleman, billed as "Hutchinson's Hometown Hero" on advertisements for TAZ's Salt City Showdown this Saturday. Participating in a wrestling match seemed like a fun thing to try once, he said, but no one would let him do it without going through the proper training. Six months later, he thought, "I'm not going to go through all this and just do it one time."

"I kind of want to keep going until I get as big as I can," Gartleman said.

He's just one out of TAZ's stable of more than 30 athletes, many of which participate in multiple wrestling organizations, like Mid-West Entertainment Wrestling out of Mount Hope. The pool of wrestlers that can be found competing under the TAZ banner come mainly from Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas and Missouri, but some can come from as far as California and the Dakotas.

"We hope to grow big enough to tour, whether it's to one coast or another, or both," said Mitch Bass, from Signature Sound. They're also looking to establish a permanent training facility and base of operations and have started to find success attracting big-name competitors, like former Total Nonstop Action world champion Abyss and Tommy Snow, brother of Al Snow, a regular on the big stage in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

For their first Hutchinson show, the TAZ crew has lots of matches cooked up, including a cruiserweight battle royal, "Danimal" versus the "Texas Outlaw" Bobby Burns, and the main event, a heavyweight championship rematch between title holder Kyle Hawk and challenger Shane Volax.

For anyone familiar with the likes of WWE, it'll have a similar atmosphere. Or at least, that's the goal.

"That's the whole point is to give (the audience) that experience," Pina said.

"We definitely want it to be more TV-worthy than backyard-worthy," Bass added.

Professionalism is at the forefront of organizers' minds. In Adams' words, "Being good's not good enough."

A close second, in terms of priority, is providing affordable entertainment in a family atmosphere. TAZ doesn't want to turn away fans because of excessive profanity, sex or blood, Adams said. That's not to say the wrestlers don't put all their energy into a show or that matches are tame – props like tacks and Legos have been introduced in rare instances. But they want fans to feel welcome.

"If you're not a wrestling fan, TAZ will make you a wrestling fan," said Adams' wife, Candi, admitting she wasn't always as enthusiastic about the sport. "It's family friendly. It's a lot of fun. I love seeing the kids and the wrestling fans get into it. They look at these guys like they're heroes."

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